US may seek new indictment against Indian diplomat for exploiting maid

AP, NEW YORK

Fri, Mar 14, 2014 - Page 7

An Indian diplomat whose arrest and strip-search spurred an international flap had the case against her dismissed by a US federal judge on Wednesday, but US prosecutors suggested they might refile the charges stemming from claims she exploited her housekeeper.

For now, at least, Wednesday’s ruling closes the case against Devyani Khobragade on the grounds of diplomatic immunity.

The US judge found that Khobragade had broad immunity from prosecution when she was indicted on charges of fraudulently obtaining a work visa for her housekeeper and lying to the US government about the maid’s pay.

The ruling left open the possibility US prosecutors could bring a new indictment against her, and they “intend to proceed accordingly,” said James Margolin, a spokesman for Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara.

Khobragade’s attorney, Daniel Arshack, said that the former deputy-general consul, now back in her homeland, was pleased by the ruling.

“She is heartened that the rule of law prevailed,” he said, adding that a new indictment “might be viewed an aggressive act and one that [prosecutors] would be ill-advised to pursue.”

Bharara, who was born in India, but moved with his family to the US, also said Khobragade was not handcuffed, restrained or arrested in front of her children.

Still, many in India saw the arrest as unnecessarily humiliating. Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon called the treatment “despicable and barbaric.”

Khobragade had pleaded not guilty. Indian officials said the housekeeper had tried to blackmail the diplomat, which the housekeeper.

Wednesday’s ruling centered on the complexities of different levels of legal protection afforded to diplomats.

When Khobragade was arrested, US officials said her status as a consular officer provided immunity limited to acts performed in the exercise of official functions. She disagreed, and then, on the day before her Jan. 9 indictment, she got a new appointment that conferred wider immunity.

Regardless of Khobragade’s status when she was arrested, her later appointment gave her immunity when indicted and means the case must be dismissed, US District Judge Shira Scheindlin wrote. And while Khobragade’s immunity ended when she left the country, the indictment still could not stand, the US judge wrote.

The judge said that mooted the question of whether the crimes Khobragade was accused of committing would have been considered “official acts” covered by the earlier, more limited immunity.

If not, the judge wrote, “then there is currently no bar to a new indictment against Khobragade.”

Since Khobragade does not have immunity now and courts have yet to settle what protection she had when arrested, that leaves a potential path for a new indictment, though any new case might be complicated by Khobragade’s absence from the US.

She is in New Delhi, continuing to work for the Indian government in foreign affairs, Arshack said.